Abstract
Tubular steel towers are the most common design solution for supporting medium-to-high-rise wind turbines. Notwithstanding, historical failure incidence records reveal buckling modes as a common type of failure of shell structures. It is thus necessary to revisit the towers' performance against bending-compression interactions that could unchain buckling modes. The present investigation scrutinises buckling performances of a cylindrical steel shell under combined load, by means of the energy method. Within the proposed framework, the differential equations to obtain dimensionless expressions showed the energy-displacement relations taking place along the shell surface. Furthermore, shell models integrated with initial imperfection have been embedded into finite element algorithms based on the Riks method. The results show buckling evolution paths largely affected by bending moments lead to section distortions (oval-shaped) that in turn change the strain energy dissipation routine and section curvature. The shell geometrical parameters also show a strong influence on buckling effects seemingly linked to a noticeable reduction of the shell bearing capacity during the combined loading scenarios.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 5302 |
Journal | Energies |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 20 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research received no external funding. The second and third author acknowledge with thanks the IGI Global Challenges Funding Scheme of the University of Birmingham (Project Nr 3035).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
Keywords
- Buckling
- Combined load
- Energy method
- Finite element method
- Riks method
- Shell structure
- Wind turbine tower
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Building and Construction
- Fuel Technology
- Engineering (miscellaneous)
- Energy Engineering and Power Technology
- Energy (miscellaneous)
- Control and Optimization
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering